Alcestis, By Euripides

Farewell! I go to fulfil the task set me by the King, the son of Sthenelus. ADMETUS Stay with us, and share our hearth. HERACLES That may be hereafter, but now I must be gone in haste. (HERACLES departs.) ADMETUS (gazing after him) Good fortune to you, and come back here! (To the CHORUS) In all the city and in the four quarters of Thessaly let there be choruses to rejoice at this good fortune, and let the altars smoke with the flesh of oxen in sacrifice! To-day we have changed the past for a better life. I am happy. (He leads ALCESTIS into the Palace.) CHORUS (singing) Spirits have many shapes, Many strange things are performed by the Gods. The expected does not always happen, And God makes a way for the unexpected. So ends this action. THE END